The ear is the most important organ for learning what is to be done and what is not to be done for our ultimate benefit. We must hear from the superior authority. At night we sleep peacefully, unaware that someone might be coming to chop off our head. However, our sense of hearing is acute, even in the sleeping state. If someone cries out, "Wake up! Wake up! Someone is coming to kill you!" we can be saved. Similarly, we are sleeping under the influence of material nature. We seem to be awake and acting, but prakriti (material nature) is doing the acting—not us. We are being forced to act according to our association with the different modes of material nature. Although we are in the sleeping condition, our ear does not sleep, and it helps us to rise out of ignorance. If we hear from the right person—the spiritual master—and from the Vedic scriptures, we can awaken to our original, constitutional position as eternal servants of Krishna. The first prescription is sravanam, hearing about Krishna. If we simply hear about Krishna, we will automatically wake up. The injunction of the Vedas is uttishthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata: "Wake up! Get up! Understand the great benediction you have in this human form of life. Now utilize it and get free from the clutches of the material modes of nature." In the Bhagavad-gita (7.14) Krishna explains how to do this:
"This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered to Me can easily cross beyond it." Surrender to Krishna and be Krishna conscious. In the human form of life, that is our only business.
Written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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